The World Jewish Congress (WJC) hailed Wednesday’s ruling by Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal, which found that the ban on religious slaughter is unconstitutional, as a “landmark decision”. The court vindicated the stance by the Union of Polish Jewish Communities, which had lodged a petition with the high court last year to overturn the ban on shechita (kosher slaughter). Last year, the Sejm, Poland’s legislature, rejected a government bill that would have kept shechita legal.

WJC President Ronald S. Lauder welcomed the ruling: “Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal has come down unequivocally in favor of religious freedom. It has spoken loud and clear: Banning religious slaughter is unconstitutional; it infringes the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, which has been signed by 47 European countries.

“This marks a major victory for the Polish Jewish community which had been adversely affected by the ban and the failure of the Sejm to adopt a law in 2013 which would have kept kosher and halal slaughter legal in the country.

“This also sends a clear signal: Jews, Jewish life and Jewish traditions are welcome in Poland.”

Lauder expressed hope that the ruling would prevent other European countries from pressing ahead with plans to ban religious slaughter. “The World Jewish Congress will continue to oppose attempts, in whatever guise, to restrict religious freedom in Europe. Jewish rites such as shechita have been performed in Europe for many centuries. It is a lie that kosher slaughter, if performed by a trained person, is more cruel to an animal than methods involving pre-stunning.

“The on-going campaign in many European countries which pretends that Jews are deliberately inflicting harm on animals is slanderous, and it must be stopped,” Lauder said.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)